Children make your life important. ~Erma Bombeck

One of My Favorite Books for Young Children

http://www.janbrett.com/mitten_masks_main.htm

 

This is a Ukrainian folk tale that teaches the lesson of inclusion and interdependence.  On a personal level, it reminds me of my “Baba” and her caring and accepting nature.  I liked to use it in the classroom, for many reasons.

“The Mitten”, is about a young boy who loses a mitten, made by his Baba, in the woods.  While it is lost, a variety of woodland creatures enter the mitten until one of the cohabitants is accidental disturbed by another. 

This is a short story that engages young children.   Children are asked to select stuffed animals representing characters. This process supports comprehension and attention. Children who have receptive language challenges see the "animals" in 3-D. Those who have difficulty attending will often benefit from having a "fidget toy" to hold. The story is predictable and can easily be re-enacted. Children may be asked to, recall order and then add or remove their animals from a large white mitten. A felt board can also be used. It allows teachers to bring in language based concepts related to size, sequence and, categorisation. Count the animals that enter and exit the mitten reinforces numeracy development. Art and creative expression are supported as children have created “masks” to represent each character. We learn about fur and feathers. In the case where there are more children than animal characters, we become very creative and add multiples of species or brainstorm more animals that might be found in a forest environment. Short plays have also been presented where the children themselves represent the animals in the forest and enter an enormous mitten made out of bed sheets. The less confident children are always willing to enter the mitten with a friend. Introducing and re-enacting the story, it in many different ways addresses diverse learning styles and provides inclusion for all children regardless of abilities.

 

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is about.”

By William Saroyan

This is a picture created by our son, Zach, when he was 3 ½ . He painted it after a family skate. He and I were learning how to skate and I was out of control for most of the afternoon. His Dad, who is a strong skater, is in the middle, assisting both of us.   Zach depicted himself skating(green), me falling (purple) and his father (brown) helping both of us, with a few brush strokes. 

He later commented that the best thing about the afternoon was drinking the hot chocolate afterwards.   Currently, he is a very good skater.  He still wants us to have hot chocolate  together, after every skate.